Sriracha Pickled Asparagus

Game Day: Bourbon4Urban and Bloody Marys with Sriracha Pickled Asparagus

I grew to love asparagus later in life. I was thrilled when I learned that it was one of the few cooked veggies Harry would eat, as long as it wasn't cooked to mush. Yes, people still do that. We'll chop it up and add to hot, drained orzo for a quick dinner and it just gets hot - delicious.

We also - obviously - like our Bloody Marys during football season. My base recipe always includes Frank's Red Hot. The garnish is typically a few olives or maybe a dill pickle or celery stalk.

In July, we had a meeting of livers friends old and new in Columbus. My friend Dr. Ivy brought some of her home-canned goodies to share. I'd heard of pickled asparagus, but had never had it. She and her husband (I learned later) had harvested 70 pounds of asparagus from the garden in NW Pennsylvania and needed to find a way to preserve it. We all know it's not a friendly world to eat that much asparagus over a few short weeks of harvest time.

My friend's intentions were to garnish Bloody Marys with the Sriracha Pickled Asparagus. But, one thing led to another and everyone ended up just eating them out of the jar. By the time I arrived on Saturday morning, there was one spear left. I shared it with another gal and fell in love. With the asparagus. I couldn't stop telling Harry about it. I couldn't stop thinking about it. I begged Ivy for the recipe.

Ivy had turned to the interwebz and found The Ward Cannerist. The blog hasn't been active since 2011, but thanks to technology, we were able to use that recipe. I experimented first with a refrigerator-pickled version (see below). After Harry and I were very happy with that, we canned 8 pints following the water bath canning instructions.

We have incredibly black thumbs, so nothing ever grows in our garden, containers, window boxes...I bought our asparagus at Kroger. By the time we learned of this little slice of heaven in a canning jar, it was long past asparagus season here in Ohio.

I've learned that 2 quarts and 8 pints is not enough for my family. I think we have one pint left in the basement, plus a couple of partial jars in the fridge. If you like some spicy pickled veggies, this is THAT good. I did have to change my Bloody Mary recipe just a bit. If we're garnishing with the Sriracha Pickled Asparagus, I leave out the Frank's - we don't need it.

The below recipe makes 2 quarts. We still have some in our fridge, having been opened, after 4 months. The refrigerator method only requires a couple of weeks to brine. If you have a spare fridge in the basement, it's a perfect place to store several quarts to get you through the year. To get the water bath method recipes, head over to The Ward Cannerist. You'll have to scroll down the page for the sriracha variation.

Sriracha Pickled Asparagus - Refrigerator Version (makes 2 quarts)

Sterilize 2 quart canning jars and their rings. You can do this by covering with boiling water in a large kettle and simmering (bubbles breaking surface) for 10 minutes. Place the seals into a bowl and cover with boiling water.

Clean and trim 2 pounds of asparagus.

In a medium saucepan, combine 3 cups white vinegar, 3 cups water (we use bottled spring water for canning), and 1/4 cup pickling salt. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat and continue to boil for 5 minutes.

Divide the asparagus evenly between the two sterilized jars. Then, add to each jar the following:

1/2 cup sriracha
6 cloves garlic, peeled, halved
8 peppercorns
2 teaspoons dill seed.

Pour the hot brine over the asparagus mixture in the jars. Add the seals and rings, but do not over-tighten the rings. Allow to cool to room temperature, then place in refrigerator for at least two weeks.

This will keep for several months in the refrigerator.

Cranberry-Lime Infused Vodka - Great Last Minute Gift!

Last year, while perusing Pinterest looking for ideas for the kids' gift baskets, I came across a beautiful pin. Cranberry Lime Vodka. Well, let's see what's wrong with this idea. Cranberries? Nothing wrong. Vodka? Nothing wrong. Hey, lime works with it. I got so excited after we made our bottles that I took it into work to show the others. One of gals even made several for her family. If you do a web search, you will find a lot of blog posts about it, but I think the pin I originally saw was from Fancy Napkin. 

Our labels included a simple martini recipe. I also admonished my kids for their lack of proper bar implements.

Making the Cranberry-Lime Infused Vodka was simple. I had a more difficult time finding a template for all of the gift tags we needed to print. I think we made 3 large bottles and 3 small bottles - all of which I found at The Container Store. Last year, we made the infused vodka the weekend before Thanksgiving because we were traveling to my daughter's home in South Carolina 2 weeks before Christmas to celebrate Thankschrismahannukwanzaakah. It had been a few years since we were all together, so I was determined to make it special.

There really is no recipe to follow. Fresh cranberries, lime peel, a wee bit of granulated sugar, and enough vodka to fill the bottle. Some of the blog recipes I've seen suggest any old vodka. While I wouldn't go Grey Goose on this, you really don't want the low-proof grocery store vodka. We used 80 proof Smirnoff and the end flavor was very smooth.

The most important suggestion I followed from Fancy Napkin was to pierce each cranberry with the tip of a knife. Wash your fresh cranberries, then allow to dry (you don't want to dilute the vodka). We had rinsed our bottles the night before, so they were completely dry, as well. I used a very sharp knife to peel the limes, being careful to limit the amount of white pith. The white is bitter and only gets worse over time.

Harry and I pierced each cranberry as we put it into the bottles, and it really didn't take an awful amount of time. We layered the lime peel at about 1/3 full, then at the 3/4 mark. Once you've completely filled your bottles with the cranberries, add just 1-2 teaspoons of granulated sugar (depending upon the size of your bottle). The sugar will balance the bitterness of the cranberries, but not make it sweet. Fill the bottle completely with vodka. The top cranberries will attempt to float, so just push them back down. Put the cap on and let it steep for at least 2 weeks. If you're reading this on December 23, get ye to the store for your supplies, then tell your recipient to wait a couple of weeks before drinking. We did shake it every few days to keep the flavor mixing around.

 I found the template for the labels free online at the MS store, and printed them on some light card stock I found at Pat Catan's. I cut them apart with some scalloped scissors intended for scrapbooking. We tied them on with some rough twine.

We were wrapping and packing the baskets in our hotel room the morning of our gift exchange. I had forgotten to take a picture in better light. But, I think you can see below how pretty of a red the vodka became from the cranberries.

Harry and I held onto our bottle of Cranberry-Lime Infused Vodka for a few months and it was delicious. Yes, we kept the cranberries in and there was no bitterness. In fact, I drank it with just tonic. I plan to make a few bottles this year, but I will probably go with a different bottle. I didn't have the patience to pull all the cranberries out with tweezers, so I ended up throwing away the bottle. A bottle with a more open neck would have been a better choice.

Cheers!!